


Stopped Clocks

by Butterfly553



Series: Soulmates Universe [1]
Category: Free!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Best Friends, Eventual Relationships, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Falling In Love, Getting Together, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-21
Updated: 2018-10-22
Packaged: 2019-08-05 03:10:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16359584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Butterfly553/pseuds/Butterfly553
Summary: Haru and Makoto have always had their soulmate clocks stopped at 0. it was that way for as long as they could remember, and they never thought anything of it. Until, one day Nagisa questions them about it. Are they soulmates? If so, what comes next for the two best friends?





	1. Questions

It was a normal high school day for Haruka Nanase and Makoto Tachibana. They walked to school together, attended class together and now they were swimming together, and odds are, they would be walking home together as well. The only difference currently was that there were other people they were interacting with now. Nagisa and Rei were there, along with Gou and Miss Amakata. It was just like every other day until they took a break.

“So, all the guys here have stopped clocks, but only Rei and I know who our soulmate is.” It was a random comment from Nagisa. None of the friends were even sure where it’d come from since they were just talking about their swim times, but randomness was to be expected with the blond haired boy.

You see, everyone has a clock on their dominant hand’s wrist. It counts down until your eyes lock with your soulmate’s eyes. Rei and Nagisa know because theirs stopped when they met eyes for the first time. That event, among others, has led them to now be in a romantic relationship. However, for as long as Haru and Makoto remember, theirs have been at 0. They have no idea who stopped their clocks or when exactly it actually happened.

“Nagisa, leave them be. I’m sure they’ll find out who their soulmate is someday.” Rei muttered, trying but failing to help the situation. He didn’t want anyone to get hurt over Nagisa’s comment.

“It’s alright Rei,” Makoto spoke up, trying to show that it was fine. The brown-haired male was actually a little upset he didn’t know who his soulmate is. He always wanted to find them and it was important to him to find his other half. Haru, on the other hand, didn’t care at all. He couldn’t care any less about it.

“What if you and Haru are each other’s soulmates? It would make a lot of sense you know.” The blond boy wasn’t wrong. It would make sense for the two best friends to be that way, but neither had thought about it before. They never really thought too hard on the fact both their clocks were stopped.

“Nagisa, I don’t think that’s a possibility. I mean, if it was, wouldn’t our parents have told us?”

“Have you ever asked them?”

“Well…not really. Haru, have you?” Attention was turned to the black-haired boy, but he just stared at his friends. It was obvious that he never had, nor did he ever have any intention of doing so.

“Mako, you should ask your parents about it and tell us tomorrow!”

“Uh, sure.” Makoto wasn’t too sure about it though. He wanted to know, but if Haru wasn’t his soulmate, he could be hurt. There were many reasons to why he’d be hurt, but he chose to not think too hard about them. “Let’s get back to practice.”

With that, the topic of soulmates was pushed away in favor of swimming. It was mostly forgotten, but Makoto just couldn’t stop thinking about it. He wanted to find his soulmate more than anything, and if it was Haru, then that’d be even better.

That night, as soon as Makoto got home, he went to question his parents about his stopped clock.

“Mom, Dad… can I ask you something?” Makoto started hesitantly. He was a bit nervous to ask about soulmates. He never had talked to them about the topic before. It just wasn’t something that ever came up randomly in conversations before.

“What is it, Makoto?” His mother replied gently.

“You can ask us anything.” His father noted, just as gently as his mother. Makoto worried his parents by how he started the conversation so hesitantly. They were expecting Makoto to ask them something bad.

“Do you guys remember when my clock stopped?”

“Of course we do, it was a great day. Don’t you remember?”

“No. Neither Haru or I can remember our clocks stopping… Is… Is Haru my soulmate?” As his parents looked at each other in question, Makoto felt like he’d pass out. This one answer would change it all for him. It could start something, or end it just as fast.

“Yes Makoto, you and Haru are soulmates.” It was his father who finally had answered, causing the male to sigh due to being relieved.

“I remember how happy you were when you first met Haru. Even though you two had no idea what the stopped clocks meant, you two instantly became attached to each other.” His mother was smiling fondly at the memory. Even though he remembered that day, he couldn’t remember all of it, leaving a blank in his memory. That must have been when his clock stopped and his child mind just didn’t find it interesting enough to remember.

“Thank you.” With those words, Makoto ran off to his room. He needed some time to think about the information he’d just learned. The boy was happy but worried. ‘How will Haru react?’ Makoto couldn’t help but think to himself. He was worried about a few things, but the main thing he was worried about was Haru’s reaction. He didn’t think it’d be bad, but he also didn’t expect it to be good.

So, not wanting to risk his friendship with Haru, the tall boy decided to keep it all to himself. He wouldn’t tell anyone that he and Haru were soulmates. Not yet at least, he needed to be sure of Haru’s feelings before revealing such a thing.

~

On the way to school the following day, Makoto decided to ask Haru about soulmates. He wanted to know how the other boy truly felt about finding his other half.

“Hey Haru, what do you really think about finding your soulmate?” It seemed almost random for Makoto to bring the topic up to Haru. He never spoke about it to Haru before since he knew the black-haired male didn’t care about it. Still, though, he needed to know to what extent Haru didn’t care about the topic of soulmates.

“…Whether I find them or not doesn’t matter to me…” It took a minute, but that was Haru’s unintentionally harsh response. His face was the same neutral face he always had, with a bit of disinterest and annoyance thrown in there.

“How come?”

“I have no interest in being in a relationship. I am free. Soulmate or not, it doesn’t matter.” Being free seemed to apply to this as well, much to Makoto’s dismay.

“I see…” Of course, Haru noticed something off with Makoto, but the taller man said nothing more about the topic. So Haru let it go as well.

Actually, the taller male said nothing more the rest of the day. Makoto wasn’t sure why, but he had pain in his chest. Haru hadn’t said anything too hurtful, but the rejection from his soulmate seemed to cause Makoto a lot of pain. There was more of it, but Makoto didn’t want to think too deeply into it while at school.

“Mako, is everything okay?” Nagisa had cornered the brown-haired male as he was changing to get ready for swimming. “You weren’t at lunch today.”

“Sorry about that. I had to do some homework I didn’t get to do last night.” That was a lie, and since he didn’t lie often, it was clear to all in the room. However, none of the boys decided to mention it. They all figured it was nothing to worry about.

That was, until days passed with Makoto obviously avoiding Haru. He would come up with reasons to not walk to and from school together and even skip lunch or eat alone in the classroom. Haru was the first to start to worry, but after a week of Makoto distancing himself, all the club members began to worry as well.

Makoto knew he was worrying his friends, but he couldn’t let himself be bothered by it. He needed to stay away from Haru. The reason was simple. The tall boy had been in love with him since they met, but now that he knew they were soulmates, it made the feelings stronger. It made being around Haru difficult, not only because he wanted to always be with Haru in more than a friendly way, but because he was ashamed of it. He was ashamed he was in love with his best friend. He wasn’t actually sure why though.

Haru was annoyed that Makoto was avoiding him, but he wasn’t sure what to do about it, so he decided to call someone for help. That someone was his shark-toothed rival/friend.

“Ha-Haru? You never call me, is everything okay?” Rin was instantly concerned when his phone rang and it said Haru’s name. It wasn’t normal for the black-haired male to call anyone, let alone Rin.

“Makoto is avoiding me.” Haru decided to just get right to the point. He didn’t want to be on the phone any longer than necessary.

“What? Why?” Rin was surprised and it showed in his voice. It was clearly not a normal thing for the gentle boy to do.

“It started after Nagisa said he and I could be soulmates. The next day he was acting weird.”

“Well… If he won’t talk to you, I’d say ask his parents. It isn’t very Makoto-like to be avoiding anyone, most of all, you. So something might be wrong.” Rin’s suggestion was one Haru himself was thinking of as well. He just hadn’t been sure if it was right or not.

“I’ll do that.” Haru finally decided out loud. He didn’t really want to, but he needed to know what was going on with his best friend.

“You’re welc-” Haru hung up. He didn’t need to hear Rin anymore. He knew it was rude, but he just didn’t particularly care at the moment. He’d thank Rin later anyway… through a text.

So, with his plan set, Haru headed out to Makoto’s house just down the path from his own home. On his way, he stopped to pat the cats along the way. Part of it was just being kind to them, but another was him stalling.

After a few minutes, Haru was knocking on the door of his best friend’s home. He hoped Makoto wouldn’t be the one who answered. He didn’t want to be turned away before he even got in the house. He needed to learn the truth.

“Haru!” Two higher pitched voices ran out as the door opened. The boy looked down to see the two younger siblings of Makoto, Ran, and Ren.

“Are you here to see our brother?” The little girl asked nicely.

“No, I wanted to talk to your parents.” The little children felt that was a good enough reason and let Haru in before leading him to their parents.

“Oh, Haruka, hello.” Mrs. Tachibana spoke when she saw the black-haired boy.

“He’s here to talk to you.” The young ones informed

their parents before running off.

“What’s wrong?” Mr. Tachibana questioned, giving Haru his full attention.

“Makoto has been acting weird for a few days. I was…wondering why.”

“Oh dear, maybe telling him was too soon… We noticed how he seemed off since we told him about his soulmate.” Makoto’s mother spoke softly with a sad tone to it.

“Am…am I…” Haru wasn’t sure what to ask, or how to ask it. For once, he was feeling a little nervous.

“Yes, Haruka. You and our son are soulmates.”

It hit Haru hard. Even though he didn’t care about soulmates, he cared about Makoto. Hearing the truth made him realize he actually did care about the soulmate topic because now he knew his closest friend was his soulmate. It changed his viewpoint on soulmates in an instance.

“…Thank you for telling me… Is Makoto here? I’d like to talk to him.”

“Of course, he’s in his room.” With that, Haru headed to the familiar room of Makoto. He knew the way well, due to the number of times he’d spent in this home. However, this was different. He wasn’t going to see Makoto for a friendly reason or to just hang out. He needed to talk about how Makoto feels about the whole soulmate thing.

Instead of knocking, Haru walked right in. Makoto was at his desk studying with his glasses on. He hadn’t even noticed that Haru entered the room. That was until the black-haired male spoke up.

“Makoto, we need to talk.”


	2. Answers

“Ha-Haruka?” Makoto spun around in his seat and looked to the door. Confusion and surprise were written on his face. He clearly wasn’t expecting the shorter male to randomly appear in his doorway.

“Don’t call me that.” It was an instant reflex to say that, but he just ignored his own comment and continued. “Like I said, we need to talk.”

“About what?” The brown-haired boy was clearly nervous about Haru being there.

“You’ve been avoiding me… also, I know the truth now.”

“Truth? Avoiding?” Haru just gave Makoto a look and the taller male couldn’t help but sigh. He knew full well he couldn’t act like he didn’t know what Haru was talking about. “I have been avoiding you, I’m sorry…”

“Tell me why.”

“It’s because…”

“Because we’re soulmates?” Makoto gasped and looked even more surprised.

“You know? Since when?”

“I just asked your parents about it. They told me.”

“I see…” Makoto looked down at the ground, wanting to avoid Haru’s gaze.

“Tell me why you decided to avoid me. It can’t just be because we’re soulmates, so be more specific.” Haru made his way to Makoto’s bed and sat down on it. The action was to show he wasn’t going anywhere until he got the answers he wanted.

“I… When I found out we are soulmates, I became worried.”

“Why?”

“I know how you hate talking about soulmates and the whole topic of them… I just didn’t want you to hate me. So I wanted to avoid you until I decided it was time to tell you.” Makoto felt bad about the whole thing and felt worse now. He didn’t give Haru the full truth, and he wasn’t sure that now was the time to tell his best friend that he was in love with him.

“Makoto… I’d never hate you. You’re my closest friend.”

“Thank you, Haru.” Makoto felt a little better to hear that from the black-haired male.

“…What now?”

“…I think we need to find out how we really feel about each other. Since we’re soulmates, that means we’re supposed to… date and stuff right?”

“I guess.” Haru still wasn’t sure about dating anyone. He didn’t like the thought, but dating Makoto didn’t seem as bad for some reason.

“Maybe we should do a trial dating situation. You know, neither of us have ever been with another person romantically before. It might help us figure out what we really want and feel… I mean if it’s okay with you!” Haru took a few moments to think it over. He wasn’t sure, but he was willing to try.

“Alright, let’s trial date.” Makoto wasn’t expecting Haru to agree so quickly, so he couldn’t help but smile before covering it up with a cough. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine Haru.” Makoto gently smiled at his “boyfriend”. That one word caused all types of feelings for the love-struck boy. He was so happy now, but he knew he needed to calm himself down a bit. He genuinely wanted to find out how true his feelings were and how Haru truly felt. He didn’t suggest them to trial date only to get Haru to be his boyfriend. He would never do anything as sneaky as that.

So, with that, the two best friends began to date. Not much changed, but the distance between the two. They walked closer together and sat closer as well. It was clear to everyone around them that something had changed. However, only the swim club members knew of the truth behind the change. Everyone accepted it well, as it was already expected. They all agreed to keep silent about it instantly, other than Nagisa. It was extremely hard to get the blond boy to agree to keep quiet about Haru and Makoto dating. He was so happy he wanted to shout it from the rooftops, literally.

Another change was that Makoto seemed happier than before. He practically shinned brightly whenever he was around Haru, which was most of the time. He was insanely thrilled to be able to spend time with his best friend in a different type of way. He was figuring out how real his feelings were, and was now happy about them.

Unfortunately, though, Haru didn’t seem to feel anything at all about it. He was his usual self, much to Makoto’s and the swim team’s dismay. They’d all been hoping the black-haired boy would at least seem less neutral than he was, but he didn’t. He was just like he usually was, making Makoto thing dark thoughts once again.

Makoto began to doubt Haru’s feelings, not that he knew what they truly were anyway. Rejection began to set in and the brown-haired boy began to distance himself. He was upset with himself more than he was upset with Haru. He wasn’t sure why he was acting so childish though. However, he was in love and love makes people act ways they wouldn’t normally act.

Haru tried multiple times to talk to Makoto about his feelings, but the taller boy would avoid him each time. The members of the swim team also tried to help, but nothing seemed to work. The black-haired boy, along with Makoto’s close friends were beginning to worry again, so Haru had to speak to someone about it. The person he once again chose to call for help, was Rin.

“Haru, what is it now?” Rin was sounding tired, which was probably because it was 2 in the morning when Haru decided to call him. The black-haired boy had been unable to fall asleep with the Makoto situation on his mind.

“He’s avoiding me again.” Rin sighed and sat up in bed. He knew this wouldn’t be a quick conversation.

“Why?” Haru then explained how they were soulmates and began to date on a trial basis. “I… wow, that’s shocking… Well, I guess it really is to be expected, so I should have seen it coming.”

“Huh?”

“Well Haru, Makoto is in love with you, he always has been. Everyone but you knew it. So, dating was something we all expected one day from you two.”

“Wait, what?” Haru was in shock. Sure Makoto was always nicer to him, but he never thought that he was in love with him.

“You acted completely normal, didn’t you? While dating, you were your usual emotionless self, right?”

“…I guess?” Haru sounded a little offended at being called emotionless since he never thought it was a problem before now. He didn’t really think he was all that emotionless anyway, but he realized that it was mostly only Makoto who could see his true feelings in situations.

“Well, you probably hurt him. He might think you don’t like being with him in that way, and you know Haru if that’s true, or even if it’s not, you need to explain your feelings to him. So, if you don’t want him as a boyfriend, you can still keep him as a best friend. You don’t want to fully lose him, do you?”

“I…see…” Haru was stumped. He wasn’t sure what his actual feelings were. He never really needed to think about his romantic feelings before. Swimming was always the most important thing swirling around in his mind, so he wasn’t used to someone taking its place and needing to think about what he felt about them instead of the water.

“Can I go back to bed?” Rin decided the conversation could be over with Haru remaining silent in his thoughts.

“Yeah… Thank you.” With those words, Haru hung up. He knew he had to go to bed, but he had some serious thinking to get to. He wasn’t sure how he felt, but he knew he didn’t want to lose Makoto as a friend.

~

It took Haru all night, but he figured out his feelings for Makoto.

He loved Makoto. He hated the thought of being away from him. He also didn’t like the thought of someone else with him or with Makoto. His heart hurt when he thought about hurting Makoto. All of that led to Haru understanding he’d always been in love with the taller boy, just as Makoto loved him always.

“I need to tell Makoto.” So, Haru got ready for school and headed out. He wanted to get to his best friend and tell him how he felt before anything else happened between them. However, he was stopped by a note on his door that was from Makoto.

The note said:  
‘Go to school without me. I’m not coming today. Also, I won’t be at home, so don’t go to my house.’

“What? Makoto doesn’t skip school.” All horrible thoughts then invaded Haru’s mind. He became worried that his best friend would go off and do something stupid. So, Haru decided to skip school in favor of going after the taller male. He had a feeling where Makoto had run off to, so he headed there first.

The location was the beach further away from their houses. Makoto was sitting in the sand, staring off into the ocean. He looked upset and like he was in a dark place in his mind.

“Makoto!” Haru called out as he went to his friend’s side. The boy just looked up at Haru and faked a smile.

“Hey, Haru. Why aren’t you at-”

“I feel the same way about you.” Makoto was confused at Haru’s words, but as he realized what he meant, he was shocked at his forwardness. “Rin told me how you feel about me. I spent last night figuring out how I feel about you. I… love you too.”

“Ha…Haru…” Makoto was in complete shock. He was frozen as he thought all about what Haru had just confessed to him. He didn’t fully believe it, but he trusted Haru, so he trusted his words, to a point. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, so Makoto… date me for real.” Haru was being oddly talkative and forward. He didn’t seem like himself, but he needed to not be. Haru knew he needed to be open in that moment.

“If that’s alright with you.”

“It is.” Haru then sat down next to Makoto and looked up to him. He had a slight smile on his face for the first time in a while.

That was when they both knew that no matter what they faced, they would be okay. They would handle it all together. Not only as boyfriends but as best friends; as true soulmates.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There will be another part to this story, so look out for it. It'll be under a different title, but you can find it in my Soulmates Universe series when it's finished.


End file.
